On 15 March 2007, the Commission gave notice of the making and commencement of the National Electricity Amendment (Technical Standards for Wind Generation and other Generator Connections) Rule 2007 No.2. Rule No.2 largely reflects the Rule to be made which was attached to the Commission’s final Rule determination on this proposal, with some minor editorial amendments.

Background

On 10 February 2006 the National Electricity Market Management Company (NEMMCO) submitted to the Commission a request to make a series of changes to the Rules relating to the technical standards that apply to generation in the National Electricity Market (NEM), particularly wind generation.

The proposed Rule change included changes to the:

• technical standards for generator connection;
• information requirements on generators; and
• a framework for negotiating access by new generators.

On 4 May 2006 the Commission commenced initial consultation on this Rule change proposal by publishing a notice under Section 95 of the National Electricity Law (NEL). Submissions on the initial consultation closed on 23 June 2006.

On 8 August 2006 the Commission decided that given the complexity and difficulty of certain issues in relation to this Rule proposal, it was in the public interest to extend the time period for the making of the draft determination by six weeks to 28 September 2006. The Commission’s decision is based on the inherently complex nature of the Rule proposal, the need to give consideration to the Commission’s draft report on the review into the enforcement of and compliance with technical standards, and the benefits that can be achieved by addressing the issues in a coordinated way.

On 26 September 2006 the Commission decided that it would be in the public interest to further extend the time period for making the draft determination by two weeks to 13 October 2006 in order to undertake additional analysis required in relation to a number of specific, complex technical issues.

On 12 October 2006, the Commission gave notice under section 99 of the NEL of the making of the draft Rule determination for this proposal. The draft Rule determination accepted the majority of the changes proposed by NEMMCO including almost all of the technical standards changes. The Commission made a number of changes to ensure that:

• the access negotiation process delivers effective performance standards; and
• only non-confidential versions of plant modelling information may be provided to third parties.

The Commission decided not to accept changes that would require:

• parties to submit revised performance standards as a result of changes to the technical standards; or
• generators to spend additional funds to address network transfer capability concerns.

The reasons for the Commission’s decision are contained in the draft Rule determination which can be accessed from the link below. Submissions closed on 24 November 2006. No request was made for a pre-determination hearing.

On 12 December 2006 the Commission decided that, due to the size of the Rule change proposal and complexity of a number of issues raised in submissions in response to the Commission’s draft determination, it would be in the public interest to extend the time period under s.107 of the NEL for publication of the final determination by five weeks to 25 January 2007.

On 19 December 2006 the Commission decided to extend the time period for publication of the final determination by a further week to 1 February 2007 under s.107 of the NEL for the same reasons.

On 9 January 2007 the Commission decided that, due to the complexity of a number of issues raised in submissions in response to the Commission’s draft determination, it is in the public interest to extend the time period under s.107 of the NEL for publication of the final determination by a further four weeks to 22 February 2007.

On 13 February 2007 the Commission decided that, due to the complexity of a number of issues raised in submissions in response to the Commission’s draft determination and the importance of the technical standards to the operation of the NEM power system, it is in the public interest to extend the time period under s.107 of the NEL for publication of the final determination by a further two weeks to 8 March 2007.

On 8 March 2007, the Commission gave notice under section 102 of the National Electricity Law of its final Rule determination for the National Electricity Amendment (Technical Standards for Wind Generation and Other Generator Connections) Rule 2007.

The Final Rule largely confirms the decisions made in the Commission’s Draft Rule, and associated Draft Determination, with the following main exceptions:

• the removal of the requirement that certain confidential information can be provided to third parties; and
• removing the role for NEMMCO to advise on reliability of supply in relation to negotiated access standards.

Details of the Commission's decisions and reasons are provided in the final Rule Determination.

On 15 March 2007, the Commission gave notice of the making and commencement of the National Electricity Amendment (Technical Standards for Wind Generation and other Generator Connections) Rule 2007 No.2. Rule No.2 largely reflects the Rule to be made which was attached to the Commission’s final Rule determination on this proposal, with some minor editorial amendments.